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SANDPOINT — In one corner, a man leans against the wall, his eyes closed.

In another area, two women look through piles and racks of clothes. In still another, a child appears to be licking their arm and in a fourth, a woman has her hands on her hips as she talks to the store's clerks.

"It's kind of a 'Where's Waldo?'," Heather Upton, Bonner County Historical Museum executive director and curator, said of the photo which details the Jennested Department Store in the not-so-distant past.

Part of the museum's new "The One Who Went to Market: The History of Mercantile in Bonner County" exhibit, the photo is a favorite, Upton said. Dominating one of the gift shop's wall at the museum's entrance, the photograph is a connection to the past, but also showcases the importance of area merchants and their role in the community.

"It fills my heart with joy to see this come alive," Upton said. "Having the history of mercantile in the gift shop, it has been a goal of mine for a long time, and it just naturally makes sense."

Set in the museum's gift shop, the exhibit is folded into the space, creating a hybrid experience, Upton said. It allows the museum to showcase both the museum's history and the items available for purchase, such as books on the area's history.

It captures snapshots of the various merchants, from variety stores to pharmacy and hardware stores as well as butchers and grocery stores. It touches upon Harold's IGA, a downtown landmark now lost to history, with several artifacts from the store. It also features the Sear's Catalog, the Amazon of its day, with items purchased from the thick books showcased on a shelf with visitors given the chance to match the item to the price that would have been paid.

Many of the items, such as shoes worn by volunteer Sue Graves as a child, also include their original packaging and the receipt. Others show the customization available from local merchants, such as a group of bottles dating to a local drugstore.

"It was really neat [in putting this exhibit together] to see all the customization that all of the mercantile stores did," Upton said. "And just beautiful, beautiful craftsmanship, you know."

Among the items featured in the exhibit are items from the Jennested estate, from clothes, scrapbooks and journals to business stamps, business cards and order books. Upton said she learned of the items when, in her previous role as an antique dealer and as the museum's curator, she was contacted by someone with vintage clothes to sell.

"As I was looking at these objects, I could see that there was some history here, and there was a story," Upton said.

As she talked to the donor, she learned they were from the Jennested family. As she looked at the items, tucked away in the basement of a historic home in Sandpoint, the donor saw Upton recognized their importance and showed her even more of the items.

"She saw that I understood the meaning behind this collection," Upton said. "And I started crying when I saw that all the sudden the the doors opened and all of this history was revealed. And it was truly like a missing piece of the [community's]puzzle."

The donor, Heather Pedersen, ended up donating the collection to the museum to preserve that history for the community, Upton said.

That donation served as a genesis for the exhibit, allowing her to talk about the community's "legacy stores" — stores that connect the past to the present to the future. From Jennested's, the store became Jennested & Larson's, and then to Larson's, which still serves the community today.

In addition to the photo which captured a scene at the store, the exhibit features hats once likely worn by Ollie Jennested.

"The cool thing about Ollie is he was quite a businessman," Upton said, pointing to one of the hats as it reminded her of the man who once wore it. "One of my favorite stories about him is that he would snowshoe up to the logging camps and measure the men and make the wool clothing for them up there."

Like the other merchants featured in the exhibit, Jennested was dedicated to ensuring customers had everything they need.

"Every time I do a new exhibit, I gather more historical information from the community, which is really fun," Upton said. "And from the oral histories that we did, I thought this was a really neat fact, you could get everything that you needed within the two blocks of downtown. And that's that's a really special thing to think about."

Upton said she learned that, not only were the shops a delight to walk through, the owners — and their employees, often family members — were a unique and wonderful bunch as well. In gathering the oral histories, Upton said she learned of the butcher's son at Economy Grocery who would quickly sketch something onto the butcher's paper after wrapping up the customer's order.

The butcher's son? Ward Tollbom, who went on to became a renowned artist and open his own downtown gallery, the Hen's Tooth Studio.

"Apparently, there was a woman that had been saving her sketch for over 50 years," Upton said. "And she came in and had him frame it for her. I love that we are able to share current history through this exhibit as well."

Photographs capture the community's mercantile history are featured, almost larger than life, from the Humbird Lumber Company's mercantile store to a clerk at Sear's helping a customer order from the catalog to the scene at Jennested's.

"Some of the stories are going to be new information to people," Upton said. "But really, this exhibit is going to be quite nostalgic for a lot of people because they actually might know people in this photo."

Other items, such as a watch, clock and jewelry sign in the shape of a large pocket watch, are used to hold a narrative label welcoming visitors to the exhibit. Unearthed in Priest River, the sign was previously used as part of the museum's "Once Upon a Time in Bonner County" exhibit.

"It's just always fun to just spotlight and highlight all of these important objects that are a part of the one million pieces that we store in our collection, and are continually preserving," Upton added.

In putting together a holiday open house that also served as the exhibit's grand opening, Upton said she learned about the holiday music piped throughout the downtown by Recall Drug. Combined with evergreen bows decorating the streets and the displays created by local merchants, the downtown was a special place during the holidays.

"It was truly like a Norman Rockwell Christmas scene," Upton said.

Creating exhibits such as "The One Who Went to Market" or "Once Upon a Time" takes months of planning and organizing — and the help of the museum's amazing and talented volunteers. From printing out copies of documents — museum policy prohibits originals being put out on display — to researching information to create the exhibits' stories, volunteers are essential, Upton said.

"Exhibits are interesting, because they're such a layered entity," she said. "So you want to find the best stories, and then you marry the objects, the photos, the archival material to that. And, then you create this visual that all makes sense in a particular space that you're working in. But then you also, every single object has to have information on what it is the circa and who donated it. So there's a lot of time involved."

Volunteers make that happen and are a key part of the museum. And, Upton said, there is also room for more.

We're always looking for new volunteers. General support of the museum through sponsorships and donations is always welcome and important, Upton said.

"In times like this, it's been really neat to see our community and all of the grants focus on helping people in need, which is number one, definitely, in my book. I know that's who I've been supporting as well," she added. "But it's been difficult for museums and museum culture, you know, especially in the grant environment, so we really appreciate everybody's support that they've been giving us."

To learn more about the museum, or to volunteer, go online to bonnercountyhistory.org.